1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to floor mats. More particularly, the invention relates to rubber floor mats that retain dirt and water removed from customers' shoes. Specifically, the invention relates to floor mats that include alternating wiping and scraping strips for removing matter from shoes and closed-bottom wells for retaining the removed matter.
2. Background Information
Floor mats are frequently positioned in entryways so that customers and visitors entering a building can wipe their shoes and thereby reduce the amount of particulate matter, water and snow brought into the building. There are a number of different floor mats presently available. Each of the known mats is designed to serve a slightly different function. So, for example, some mats are made from rubber and have a grid-type construction which allows dirt and water to drop through openings in the mat. These mats allow customers to wipe water and snow off their shoes and the snow and water drops through the openings and therefore is not tracked into the building. Other mats are made with an absorbent uppermost layer that wicks water away from the surface of the mat so that the customer's shoes are effectively dried as they walk across the mat. Yet other mats have a fibrous upper layer which allows the customer to scrape matter from their shoes. Particles and droplets from the shoes drop between the fibers and become trapped therein and this reduces the matter tracked into the building.
While each of the known mats serves their designed function, there is still room in the art for improved floor mats that can be used to both scrap and wipe the soles of shoes and that can store the matter removed therefrom for later disposal.